To Love a Kitsune
by Daughter Of The Revolution
Summary: Axel often wonders why he took on the task of caring for two mates. AkuRokuShi. Omegaverse. Mpreg. Dark.
1. You Must Be Loyal

**DOTR: Okay so I know you guys want me to update K for Kings of Heart and I want that too, but eheh, life (gotta love it) so I just racked up this idea for a oneshot and, ehem, as you can see it turned out longer and so instead of making it one LONG longshot I decided to break it down for ya. Well, here's something for you guys. Call it an apology present for being away from the Kingdom Hearts fandom for so long. Sorry, and enjoy and don't forget to tell me what you think, thanks! I will update the other part if I get much love and reviews/and/or/loads of hits**.

* * *

"Great. Now how the hell do I get out of this damn forest?"

Xigbar had been given a simple mission: deliver a letter to the Alpha, Xemnas. Of course he has to go and take a shortcut the moment the sun begins to set in a chance to save time so the already impatient Ookami wouldn't bite his head off over lack of timing . . . like the last time . . . and the time before that and . . . well if he was so unreliably "timed" then why does that damn Beta keep sending him of all the pack as the messenger man?

Xigbar froze in his thoughts as a rustling to his right caught his attention. Sure there had been a small breeze in the night air but all-in-all the night was pretty still.

Wandering, his golden eye darted around and subconsciously he touched his left eye remembering well what happened last time he had lost his way. He'd rather not have another repeat run-in with a nasty aggressive Alpha. Well, he supposed he deserved that for not paying attention into which territory he entered . . . liked now.

"Who's there?" Xigbar asked, holding up the rolled parchment as if he'd beat the assailant with the scroll should they decided to attack him.

Honestly he blamed the forest for coming out of nowhere and surrounding him in lostlessness. Now the road's disappeared from him and he was way too far from town. Why on earth did his Alpha pick now of all times to visit another town when he could have just stayed in their own to—

"AH!" Xigbar would not admit how unmanly that scream was but hey . . . if a scared shitless Beta screamed like an Omega with no one around to hear him . . .

Suddenly Xigbar hated his life and his damn jitters. Something had popped out of those rustling bushes, but it wasn't an aggressive Alpha, that was for sure. There, before him was a young . . .

"Puppy?" Xigbar raised his brow at the sight of it. It was chasing a . . . a . . . a shrew! He could see that black tail of his wagging away as he took hold of the small animal in his mouth and tossed it in the air before it dropped to the ground and began scurrying off again to escape, but the pup was once again after it.

Xigbar stood there amazed at the sight. Never ever before had he seen a pup out in the middle of the woods, all by himself, without even the slightest shred that a parent was present.

"Parent, right, they should be around," Xigbar muttered to himself as he leaned to the left and then to the right to catch sight of any Inu around. It was possible the pup's home was nearby, Xigbar knew not everyone desired the town-life and quite a few Alphas and Betas alike settled down in the countryside but not much was known about that lot since they were . . . well . . . isolated.

So, that could mean this puppy wandered off from his home and by the looks of it he was no more than four years of age. Xigbar let out a sigh and then crouched down on his haunches. He smiled fondly and watched the little one play, pawing at the shrew before the poor creature was worn out of running from the boy and then just lay there, much to the pup's dismay.

"I think you tuckered him out, kid," Xigbar said. The child paid him little mind, just a simple uncaring glance before returning his attention to the shrew and pawing him again.

Xigbar let out a chuckle and shook his head. _No one ever teach this kid to be wary of strangers? Sheesh, what an incautious puppy._

Remembering the feel of the parchment in his hands Xigbar suddenly remembered his Alpha who was no doubt running those dastardly sharp claws along the armrests of his "throne" while waiting for his neglecting pack member. He wondered if it was too late to throw himself against a tree in hopes of getting a black eye and blaming his delay on an Alpha who happened upon him as he dashed as quick as his could in a loyal manner to his Alpha.

But . . .

"Telling him I was helping a kid could cease some flame," Xigbar suggested to himself as he looked down at the puppy who began to pout at the surrender of his entertainment. Xigbar rolled his eye and let out a sigh before scooting closer to the young Inu puppy. "Heya, ya lost? If ya want I can take ya with me and we could have a good time. I've got this Alpha ya see and if he sees ya then I'm sure all his thoughts of torture weighing over my head will vanish. Whatdaya say?"

The puppy looked at him with bright blue eyes, a pretty color in contrast to the black fur the child sported. His wagging tail had led Xigbar on as he moved to pick the child up only to get an armful of baby teeth.

"YEOUCH!" Xigbar yelled as he pulled back and watched as the pup began growling and then scrapping up the dirt underneath him with his legs. Just as soon as he had tried out how his growls sounded with his small vocals, the little pup wagged his tail and chirped up a bark. Xigbar raised a brow in confusion before rolling his eye.

"Heh, you got me good there, Beta," Xigbar said with a chuckle. He had thought the damn Inu pup to be an Omega but after that bite and then the shifting from submissive to dominant; Xigbar could tell they were in the same class. "But stop being stubborn and come here to Uncle Xigbar."

Once again he was coming toward the child, knowing the pup would just lollygag his way if a mature adult didn't help him and bring him back to town so they could find his parents. Xigbar, this time, made sure to watch the child's reaction toward him. He watched his ears fall down and his tail fall back between his legs. That's right, Xigbar could be dominant if he wanted to—especially when getting his point across to some sniveling little pup whom he was just trying to help.

Just as Xigbar reveled in his dominance over a four-year-old puppy he hadn't taken into account how the child hadn't been looking at him, but, apparently, at someone behind him. The moment Xigbar realized this he regretted ever being born. Slumping his shoulders, Xigbar put on his submissive side riding along the lines of the Omega class and turned around to confront whatever was scaring the Beta pup.

Xigbar's eye widened and his jaw dropped. There, before him, was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen in his known existence. From the days of his puphood up into his juvenile years and now into his adulthood he had heard of these creatures, so rare in existence and said to have so much magical capabilities that some think they might just be spirits than actual beings.

It was a Kitsune.

Not just a Kitsune, but from the aura emitting off the redhead, Xigbar felt the dominating presence of an Alpha. He could tell, with the way the redhead was standing before him, his stance firm and unshakable should a fight ensue.

"I . . . I . . . uh . . ." Yep, that was all Xigbar had to say, his ears going down into an all-out Omega submission. He just didn't get paid enough for this shit. He then began to rationalize the current situation: why hadn't he known this was an Alpha's marked territory? He was paying good attention to the space around him; How come he didn't smell him coming? Also, why is a Kitsune even here when concerning an Inu pup, unless . . .

Xigbar chuckled nervously before he turned; keeping his eyes on the threatening Kitsune of course, and picking up the pup who trembled in his embrace as he also looked at the Alpha Kitsune. "Eheh, is this thing yours?"

Suddenly a growl emitted from the Kitsune's throat and Xigbar froze. He was usually more akin to shaking, especially around his Alpha but nope, nothing of the sort this time. He just froze, the pup locked in his grasp and everything.

When the Inu pup began to finally come to and squirm, Xigbar cursed his ridiculous cowardice. He tried to drop the kid but he was utterly frozen. He had no control over his body! When the kid began to cry Xigbar realized it was a cry to his parent, especially as he reached out to him, he began to break out in a cold sweat.

Then, in awe and terror both, Xigbar watched the myths and legends come true. His golden eye widened as he watched the Kitsune wave his hand and soon what he remembered titled as "fox-fires" appeared around the Kitsune, dancing around him hypnotizing but tauntingly. Then the Alpha Kitsune flicked his hand outward toward him and in horror he watched the fox-fires slide on his skin, and fly toward his own direction.

"AH!" Xigbar cried out the moment the fox-fires hit him. His body came to and he dropped the pup but was absolutely amazed that the Kitsune would attack someone who had his own pup so near—of course assuming that Inu pup was his own. But just as he finished his "stop-drop-and-roll" he watched the Kitsune kneel down toward the Inu pup and wave the flames away and then in the notion of a simple snap the flames were gone.

Those piercing green eyes turned back toward Xigbar as the Kitsune picked up the pup in his arms. Xigbar froze again and scurried back until his back slammed against the trunk of a tree. Looking back toward the pup, Xigbar realized it was his own, seeing how the pup nuzzled himself into the Kitsune's arms. Xigbar had unknowingly stumbled upon a Kitsune's child.

When Xigbar expected to be burned alive he raised his arms to prepare as the Kitsune moved, but when no burning came upon him, he looked up and noticed that the Kitsune had just walked away. With a heavy sigh of relief Xigbar looked down at himself and noticed his cloak burnt to ashes.

"Fuck," Xigbar cursed. Could his luck have gotten any worse? He didn't think so. He then turned to his right hand and noticed a pile of ashes and when he realized what it was he jumped to his feet and shouted, "FUCK! ! !"

His angry bout sent a few bats hanging in nearby trees flying but as he kicked up the ground and then the tree he had coward against he turned back toward the place he had seen the Kitsune. Was it all a dream? No, it wasn't. The state of his clothing was proof enough.

After a little thought Xigbar grinned and shoved his hands into his pant pockets before continuing his way toward where his Alpha had been waiting for him in the next town. He was certain his Ookami Alpha would forgive his mistake in not delivering the parchment. After all, he had more important news to tell him.

Yes, Xigbar was sure if his Alpha, Xemnas, knew he had sighted a Kitsune in this very forest, why, there was no doubt the Alpha would make the capture of that magical rare creature his first priority over beating his senseless Beta to death.

* * *

"Go back to your mother, Zackary," The Alpha Kitsune had commanded, but softly, and watched as his little pup took off to run as fast as he could to his mother's side. There he watched the little Inu pup kneel down next to his mother who was nursing her latest litter. She leaned up and held out an arm to him which the little Beta was too happy to run into.

"Zackary!" The Inu Omega cried as she held her pup close and kissed and licked his face before his attention was caught by the squirming newborn pups against her bosom. "Puppies!" the little boy squealed in delight, his little hands coming out to pet the little ones in amazement.

"Xion, hold on, let Zackary watch you nurse so it'll keep his attention. I don't want him wandering off again," The Alpha Kitsune said with a sigh as he shook his head and ran his fingers through his red locks. "A Beta had seen him."

"W-What?" Xion, the Inu Omega gasped, leaning up a little more, causing her nursing litter to begin crying out from struggle to feed. "Please say they didn't see you."

"I had no choice but to show myself. He had Zackary."

"Oh, Axel," Xion gasped before nuzzling her little boy who seemed to sense the trouble he'd caused his parents and so flattened his ears against his head.

"I guess we'll have to fucking move again!"

Axel, the Alpha Kitsune, turned toward his first mate, an angry golden Neko who was already showing the litter he was carrying inside him. Axel let out a sigh and turned from him, trying his best to ignore him. After finally getting the Neko pregnant through less-than-gentle means, the Omega has been nothing but an aggressive, hateful burden.

"Yes, we will, Roxas," Axel said, keeping his gaze away from the boy who simply crossed his arms and scoffed.

"Of course," Roxas muttered with a roll of his blue eyes. "Like fucking normal. Why can't you find a stable place to stay?"

"Because I'm a fucking Kitsune!" Axel shouted, turning toward his first mate and standing tall to present his dominance over him.

Xion, his second mate, could tell Axel had had enough of the boy and so took her litters close and made sure to cover their ears the best she could. It was best they didn't hear what their father was saying. Their young brains just wouldn't understand. As Xion watched, she saw Axel come close to Roxas to get him to submit, but as of recently, the Omega was defiant and stood his ground.

"You knew this would be a possibility if you mated yourself to me, Roxas!" Axel pointed, poking his first mate in the chest and pushing him back slightly. Sometimes, he just wanted to kick and bite the boy but not now . . . he was carrying . . . maybe later. "Now you're complaining after that warning? Well, fuck you! Why don't you leave if you don't fucking like it? But of course if you do . . . I would not doubt you carry a few Kitsunes inside you. You could try to make it on your own but once others find out there are Kitsunes in your litter, they'll kill you and any child that isn't a Kitsune and take those kits and sell them to the highest bidder. Do you want that, Roxas? Do you? !"

The boy remained silent, but held his ground. Xion could see he accepted Axel's explanation, but as of now, she knew her partner-mate would not admit it. There it was, the Neko just shook his head, his golden ears twitching before he turned around and began packing their belongings quietly. Xion wanted to get up and help the poor boy but was held down by her nursing newborns. So she looked toward her mate and bid him silently to help the boy, his first mate.

Axel looked at Roxas and made a move to help but instead he shook his head and turned from him saying, "You'd better not lift anything too heavy, Roxas." With that warning he left to pack up their belongings in the other end of the cabin.

"Mama, we moving?" Zackary, Xion's third child asked.

Xion just smiled and pulled him close, kissing the top of his head before playfully nipping at her son's fuzzy onyx ears. "Why don't you go help papa?"

"Ya!" The little boy cheered as he rushed off while his litter-siblings remained by their mother's side and helped her with her new litter.

Indeed; it wasn't easy to have a Kitsune mate, both Roxas and Xion knew this. From the time they had been mated as a trio the family had moved no more than 10 times. Some were because of sightings, some because of better housing. The pups were becoming quite used to the road and the lack of stability began unnerving the expecting Neko.

Roxas, a golden Neko, and Axel the Kitsune's first mate had been with him longer. A good 10 years, but a majority of it being that the two had known each other since kit/tenhood. Xion had come in later, after the two had been mated for 2 years but after she had been pupped first, Roxas' strain began affecting his and Axel's relationship, even more so when, after four years of sharing his mate with another Omega, that same Inu Omega was pupped again.

After all, it had been Roxas who suggested Axel determine if Xion could be a suitable mate . . .

_It had been that same Omega from before, Roxas was sure of it. The first time he had seen her were when he and Axel had been mating in a clearing. It hadn't been their first time mating in the heated season, but it was the first time they were interrupted by someone. Since Axel was a Kitsune he produced a higher-than-normal level of magic where he could easily place up a barrier around them, luring people away with illusions but this Omega, an Inu Omega had found them._

_Of course they both shrugged it off as sheer accident but after the second time it was coincidence and the third and fourth were nothing of the sort. Neither had understood why the girl was constantly following them when there were plenty of other Alphas to smell and mate her, but no, continually she'd stalk them and it eventually weighed on Roxas' mind._

_"Axel, Axel, Axel stop!" Roxas demanded just as his mate grunted over him, already picking up the pace of his thrusts._

_"What?" Axel asked, his breathing labored and mood about ruined from his mate suddenly pulling away from him and sentencing his hard cock to a lonely cold night's air._

_"Over there," Roxas said, glancing toward the bushes where he smelt that Inu Omega, that _same_ Inu Omega. "It's _her_ again."_

_Axel looked toward the bush with his glowing green eyes, a sign to Roxas that his magic was working well and that no doubt the barrier he enveloped them in was working. Cocking his head to the side he glanced back down to his mate. "What do you want me to do about her?"_

_Roxas closed his eyes and inhaled her scent. She was in heat this time, as she had been on other occasions she happened upon them. The scent reminded Roxas of the pains of being in such a heat with no one to mate to. He knew the feeling all too well in the times when his heat first began and he hadn't had the guts to ask Axel to mate to him the first few years. Now, after two years of being mated to Axel, Roxas hadn't had to go through that pain again and so he sympathized with the Inu Omega._

_"Go to her, Axel," Roxas finally decided. He looked up at his mate with pleading eyes while Axel looked down upon him quizzically. "Give it a try, for me?"_

_Roxas knew Axel was picky, he always had been. Even when Roxas finally managed to ask to be the Alpha's mate, Axel was reluctant before after a small persuasion from Roxas finally made his mind. So, Roxas wasn't sure if Axel would like the Inu Omega but he wasn't going to hinder him from trying. Already feeling akin to the hidden girl, Roxas knew he would not hate her if Axel had decided to mate himself to her._

_So Axel let out a sigh and stood himself straight then licked the tip of his index and middle fingers before summoning his fox-fires, two of them, and then motioned his hand to guide them to burn the bush the Inu Omega was hiding herself behind. The young girl cried out and jumped back, her black tail between her moist legs and her dark ears falling flat and down._

_She scooted back only until her back hit the trunk of a tree and she could retreat no more. Her features showed fear but also something else. Axel smirked down at her and scanned her with his eyes, taking in her small frame similar to Roxas' but this time, it happened to be a female._

_"Y-Y-You're a Kitsune!" the girl gasped, but the fear was slowly receding as her heat thickened and now the look in her eyes—Roxas could tell she wanted Axel. The Omega wanted the Alpha to dominate her._

_"Yeah, and what you gonna do about it?" Axel asked as he knelt down and slid his fingers up her slim legs and then pressed them between her thighs, making the Omega gasp wantonly. "Oooh, someone's already so wet. Tell me, have you been pleasuring yourself while watching me and my mate?"_

_The Inu Omega trembled at the Alpha's touch but her eyes darkened and the fear was replaced with nothing but want and need. Leaning down, Axel inhaled her scent, his nose gliding across the skin of her neck and then down toward her collar where his other hand had risen and slowly loosened the fabric of her cloak. Once it draped across her shoulders Axel let his fingers slip inside her shirt and soon he was cupping one of her small breasts._

_The Inu Omega let out a moaning squeal, especially when Axel squeezed gently. Her head fell back and in that moment Axel let his tongue taste the girl, his mouth-muscle trailing up toward her jaw where his lips then rested near hers and he breathed heavily against her mouth, teasingly mixing his breath with hers._

_"What do you want, Inu Omega?" Axel whispered against her and watched in delight as she closed her eyes tightly and opened that small mouth of hers in sheer pleasure as he pressed two fingers inside her, not going in too far to tease all the more. "Do you want to mate with me?" The Inu nodded her head vigorously. "Why?" Axel asked and in this questionnaire before the dirty-deed, Roxas realized he was asking the same questions he had asked him before they mated. "I'm a Kitsune and you're an Inu; different races, different breeds." Pressing his fingers in deeper this time the girl's eyes opened and looked at Axel closely. "My kind is the hunted while your kind is the hunter. Anyone associated with someone like me could possibly be killed. You willing to stand by that decision?"_

_So, Axel liked her scent and her body appealed to him, now he was testing her loyalty._

_The Inu Omega remained silent but as she raised her hands and let her fingers run through Axel's red locks, Roxas and Axel saw her decision. Axel smiled before leaning down and capturing her lips in a sweet but deep kiss. When he pulled away he kept his lips near hers as he asked, "What's your name, Omega?"_

_"Xion," the girl whispered, still trembling from her heat and the Alpha's dominance over her._

_"The name's Axel, A-X-E-L, got it memorized?" Axel asked and Roxas chuckled in the background, remembering the same words from before. Xion nodded her head and Axel's smile turned deviant. "Good, because I want to hear you scream my name tonight."_

_In that Axel moved and pressed Xion to the ground, her face and chest facing toward the ground while Axel mounted her. He pulled her hips toward him and this time pressed two more fingers inside her to prepare her. The more he pressed into her the more juices dripped down his hand and occasionally he'd lean down and lap up the substance. When he was doing this he glanced at his mate beside them who had stayed his distance and simply sat and watched._

_"I'll be coming back for you later, kitten," Axel said with a wink that made Roxas' face heat up and blush._

_When Axel took his fingers away and pressed his member inside the small girl he sighed out in pleasure, his eyes closing and head falling back. Roxas, being sensitive toward magic as is, felt the barrier Axel had created from his own abundant magic waver slightly._

_"Be careful, Axel," Roxas warned him to stay in control. _

_Axel only chuckled, keeping his eyes closed as he said, "You keep up a constant magical barrier while entering a virgin and I'll tell you to 'be careful.'"_

_Roxas simply crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. Axel on the other hand made sure to keep his magic in check while he thrust into the virgin Omega underneath him. When his paced picked up he heard small cries from the girl and they weren't in pleasure and so he opened his eyes and looked down at the girl who was looking up at him to her best ability._

_He could tell she wanted to look at him and also he needed to be more gentle since it was her first time. _

_So he pulled out and then turned the Omega around to lay on her back. When he leaned down he pressed inside once more and leaned down to press kisses toward her jaw. "So you want to look at me? Alright," Axel said as he kissed her neck and then ran his fangs along her skin, reveling in the feel of her tight warmth around him and the strong heated smell she emitted._

_When Axel bit into her she cried out but mostly moans escaped her lips as the Alpha above her rolled his hips deep but softly, for her. Roxas had been surprised that Axel could mate so gently, but maybe it was just his tastes. Roxas, himself, preferred rough and fast from behind while it seemed this Inu Omega seemed slow and soft while she reached up and looked into his eyes._

_Now that he had seen this side to Axel, Roxas wondered if he'd give him a taste of this mating. It seemed intimate and overly sweet. Roxas also realized it prolonged the pleasure as the two had been officially mating for a good half hour now and it wasn't looking like it was stopping any time soon. Just the sight made Roxas hard, along with the delicious smells._

_After that night, Xion had kept to her promise and remained with them as a marked mate. Not only had the mark offended other Alphas should they come looking for a young Omega, but the litter inside her had made it official that she was taken._

_Roxas had not been jealous at all when he watched Axel pet and kiss and lick Xion's rounding belly. In fact, he often did the same; cooing over the expecting Omega. The feel of the constantly moving litter inside her was amazing and it only excited Roxas more that he would one day carry his own._

_When Xion had birthed them in their small hut she as well as Roxas had been afraid of her giving birth away from an experienced doctor. Both knew expecting Omegas would usually seek the help of a doctor to follow the pregnancy, but Axel forbid either from seeking one out because of the fact that Xion was carrying a Kitsune's litter. He had explained it was too life-risking and that if a doctor told the authorities there was no doubt Xion would be killed and her litter taken._

_So it was Axel who helped with the birthing process._

_Xion had clung to Roxas as the pains rolled over her. Axel was rubbing her protruding stomach affectionately and would often emit a low fiery glow in his hands to make this process easier._

_When the first pup was out, Axel took him up in his hands and held him close. The pains had receded to a certain degree so Xion could rest and watch as her mate held her first pup, their first pup. But actually, the child wasn't a pup at all, but a kit._

_"My firstborn," Axel cooed, wiping the slim off of his crying face and petting his head. Roxas watched as Axel's eyes glew their green hue and then a spark came from the child in reacting toward the magic. Roxas smiled, the little one was kit, already so much magic was inside him and Axel showed so much pride that it swelled Roxas' heart._

_Leaning down, Roxas purred and rubbed his face against Xion's head as he held her hands. "You did good, Xion," Roxas said in his soft purring. "Look, Axel's so happy that it's a kit."_

_Xion leaned up and smiled at the sight of her mate coddling his first child. Both she and Roxas watched as Axel took a wet cloth and began cleaning the child slowly as if examining every inch of him. Xion was nowhere near to birthing the second of her litter and so watched in peace as Axel wiped the child clean and smile when she noticed the small patches of red hair atop the little one's head. She was glad the little one looked like his sire and hoped every other one would too._

_"What do you want to name him, Axel?" Roxas asked with gentle eyes laid on the child._

_Axel was silent for a moment, still rubbing the child's cheek with his knuckles. He then held him close and said, "He's my first and the beginning of many. Genesis, I'll name him Genesis."_

_A fitting name; both Xion and Roxas agreed. The moment to revel in the name vanished when pains pressed against the Inu again and her grasp almost crushed Roxas' hands. "Axel!" Roxas cried out and watched his mate wrap his firstborn in a heavy blanket before placing him down in a cot made for the expected litter. He then returned to Xion's side and helped usher in the second child._

_It was another kit, another highly magical being and this time, Roxas and Xion watched Axel falter in his emotions. Instead of calm affection, Axel stumbled in his solemnness and they caught sight of sadness encased in his happiness._

_"Another one," Axel said, the tremble in his voice had struck both Xion and Roxas in the heart. They had never seen him display this kind of emotion before and it was as if they were witnessing another side of their mate. "It's another kit," Axel continued and as he cleaned this little boy, Roxas had no choice but to let go of Xion as Axel's form weakened and he about dropped the kit._

_"I'll take him," Roxas said as he took up the little redhead and finished cleaning him. The Neko smiled and twitched his ears before perking them toward Axel to hear his answer. "He looks just like you, Axel. What do you want to name him?"_

_But from the silence, Roxas turned and noticed Axel could hardly look at the child. His hand was on his mouth and his head shaking. _

_"Axel?" Roxas motioned and then Axel looked at him and the child._

_ After another silent break Axel nodded his head and quite surely said, "Lea, name him Lea."_

_"Lea," Roxas cooed, looking back down at the baby who had by then cried himself to sleep._

_When he was placed in the cot next to his brother Roxas returned to Xion's side and helped comfort her when her last child was born. This time, it was a little Inu pup. Xion was near to tears that she had birthed them all without problem but when she looked at her mate who was holding the latest pup a fear rose inside her._

_"A-Axel?" Xion inquired of her mate but Axel stilled himself and kept his wide eyes upon the pup._

_"What's wrong?" Roxas asked, coming over to touch his mate._

_"I knew that there could be others in the litter that may not be a Kitsune but now . . . I'm afraid, Roxas," Axel admitted._

_It was from that that Roxas and Xion first became fearful and reflected on the troubles from mating themselves to a Kitsune, the rarest and most magical of all races. Axel had never once expressed his fears and had seemed fine when the first two kits were born, but when the little Inu boy was born, Axel had become overly protective._

_The little Inu slept with his papa most of the time in the first few years of his life. After discovering he was a Beta, Axel became more protective and Roxas and Xion kept trying to ask him why he had reacted so differently to a nonkit when he knew he'd have a few as children but the Alpha had not told them anything._

_Genesis and Lea were both kits, both full of magic and both Alphas. Even so, the two kits were quite quiet and mellow, while their litter-brother, Zackary as he had been named, was shown to be a Beta and quite active at that. Because of him being the youngest but also a Beta he had sought so much attention from the Alphas in his family to the point where even his poor Omega mother grew tired of his antics._

_"Zackary, enough!" Xion ordered and rubbed her temples from the constant nagging from the child. She already had enough to worry about, she was expecting her second litter and the child kept wanting to be held. She couldn't keep doing this. _

_"Zack, away from your mama," Axel ordered as he turned and noticed his youngest annoying his expecting mother while he was busy trying to teach his two eldest how to summon fox-fires._

_The pup reluctantly listened and so went over to his other "mama" to bug. Roxas, at first, had been sweet to the children but after their fourth year and their mother had been found to be expecting again, Roxas had grown resentful toward the litter and their Inu mother simply because he could not yet produce a litter of his own and she was already onto her second._

_His emotions were becoming unraveling and soon his anger toward his incapacity to not carry showed. It showed, toward the children, toward his Omega partner and especially toward their Alpha. It was because of this that Axel had decided to ignore him to his best abilities, but after a long estrangement in their own home and going through a few more moves, Roxas finally let his thoughts voice his actions._

_"I want to leave," he said one morning just as Xion had given her litter their breakfast._

_Axel had been prone to ignoring him of late, but even the Neko's remark made him turn to the boy and look at him with wide eyes. "What'd you say?" he asked._

_Roxas hadn't looked him in the eyes, and Xion and Axel wondered if it was his submissive instincts or just his stubborn streak that made him keep his eyes away in a show of rudeness._

_"You heard me," Roxas said back, his voice low and his fingers toying with the eating utensils placed on the kitchen table. The moment one of the children, it was a kit, Lea, had snuck his hand over and tried to take Roxas' spoon away, the Neko quite harshly grabbed a hold of his wrist and shoved him away. The little kit was shaken by the gesture and threatened to cry, but he silenced himself when his papa stepped forward and grabbed a hold of his first mate, pulling him out of the chair and pulling his chin up so that he would look at him._

_"What the hell's your problem now, Roxas?" Axel growled._

_Roxas only pulled himself away, his features sad and angry. "You know what it is," he said. "I'm useless and I don't want to be here anymore."_

_"You can't just up and leave. You made an oath to me," Axel said, his growl had disturbed his second mate and even the litter surrounding her. So, Xion quietly ushered them off toward their room and bade Axel silently to settle this._

_"I have nothing to tie me here, nothing!" Roxas spat, pulling Axel's last hold on him, his wrist, away._

_Axel narrowed his eyes and then jotted his head in the direction Xion had taken herself and the litter to be. When he eyed Roxas again he noticed the boy had followed his gaze and in looking toward their direction he noticed a longing but most of all a self-hate. _

_Shaking his head, Axel said, "Is this about Xion?" No it wasn't that. Axel could see it. "Is this about the litter?" There it was; Axel saw it. It was clear jealousy. Roxas was jealous of Xion because she had born him a litter and Roxas had yet to do that from lack of conception._

_Axel shook his head and let out a sigh. A softer side came to him as he looked down at his first mate. "Roxas," he said softly. "I told you when it's your time you'll conceive. Why are you so impatient?"_

_"Impatient?" Roxas scoffed, shaking his own head before slapping Axel away, the signs of tears pricking in the corners of his eyes. "I've been mated to you for years, long before she came and I still have yet to produce you children. I'm a useless Omega and I can't stand it!"_

_"You're not useless to me!" Axel defended, but that stubborn look in Roxas' eyes told Axel that he would hear no sweet talk. So Axel growled and took ahold of the boy._

_"Stop!" Roxas cried out, struggling to get free as he was carried to the other room in their small home and tossed inside. "NO!" Just as he lunged out, Axel had shut and locked the door. Not only that but he had put up a magical barrier where Roxas couldn't even so much as dig his way out of the room much less jump out of the window. _

_"You're not leaving!" Axel swore from behind the door. "I am your Alpha and I command your actions!"_

_"You're a fucker, Axel!" Roxas shouted in anger as his tears fell down. "Let me out!"_

_Axel closed his eyes and let out a sigh as he turned and found his second mate looking up at him with concerned eyes. "He's not going to leave, is he?" Xion asked._

_"No," Axel said, rapping his knuckles against the door Roxas was currently pounding on. "He's not going anywhere with the barrier I put up."_

_"It's because of me he's so upset, isn't it?" Xion said as she cast her eyes down and softly placed her hands on her rounding belly. She had known she was the more fertile of the two seeing how she had conceived during her first mating with Axel and now that she was expecting her second litter with Roxas still lacking his own, it was no doubt the boy was upset._

_"Don't think that," Axel said as he placed his hands upon the small Inu's shoulders and then pulled her close. Closing his eyes he smiled at the feel of his litter inside Xion, thumping against his abdomen as he held the expecting mother close. "Nothing is your fault, it's mine."_

_Xion nodded her head and held her mate close, trusting him to resolve this issue between him and his first mate. She had even promised to watch over the children as Axel took Roxas during the heated season and left their small cabin. She remembered seeing Roxas' state after months of being kept in that room and fed by Axel. He was a mess but his anger had heightened and when Axel took hold of him to leave he had fought so viciously that for a moment, Xion had not recognized the boy._

_"Be careful," Xion whispered and leaned on her tiptoes to give Axel a sending-off kiss before he turned and left, dragging a screaming Roxas behind him._

_Axel's barrier had been highly strong that time, making sure no one and he meant no one would interrupt them. This time, he was intent on impregnating Roxas and prayed this time it work._

_Roxas had not been complacent at all. He scratched, kicked, clawed, and bit at Axel to the point that Axel had no choice but to beat him down to where he couldn't move and so easily have his way with him. It was hard, on the Alpha just as much as the Omega and Axel wasn't quite enjoying raping his own mate but he kept him near and finished as quick as possible._

_"Get your hands off me!" Roxas cried out, turning on him and trying to get his mate with his sharp claws, but Axel simply grabbed a hold of his wrists in one hand and used the other to tear the clothing off his body._

_Axel of all knew Roxas wouldn't be able to fight him long in his heat but was still thoroughly surprised that Roxas still shouted his rage. He pleaded and warned the Kitsune not to touch him, but Axel had rights to every inch of Roxas._

_"AH!" Roxas cried out, feeling his mate enter him without a moment's hesitation or preparation for that matter. There was nothing gentle about Axel's thrusts, no, it was hard and fast. Axel had pressed the boy to the ground, one of his hands holding him down by his head while the other held onto his hips and tail to steady himself as he thrust into him._

_It was a surprise how quickly Axel came inside him, almost as if Axel was just trying to plant a child inside him and that was it. The pleasure was there but undernoted by the pain. The pain made it last longer and Roxas could barely stand it._

_Axel, on the other hand, had never felt so much hate from the boy and it had hurt him, despite Roxas calling him heartless. After Axel had taken him back to the cabin he had Xion clean the boy up and then place him in his confined room. Even after all this the boy still fought. When Axel went to feed him, he attacked, whenever he could and even when relief washed over his Alpha mate at the discovery of his overdue pregnancy Roxas still snapped at Axel._

_But even so, that litter inside him kept Roxas by Axel's side. His loyalty now rekindled now that he was carrying._

When Roxas gave birth to his litter it happened to be inside a cave where they had made their residence while Axel prepared to build a hut. It was amazing how quickly his attitude had changed when he saw his own kittens or kits for the first time. Just as soon as the first was born, Roxas reached out for him but Axel held him back.

"Lye back down," Axel commanded, holding the child out of reach from the clinging mate currently in labor. "You're not done."

Roxas let out a growl but did as told and was instantly met with a wet cloth to his brow from a cooing Xion. "You're doing great, Roxas," she said with a smile as she rubbed the boy's chest. "So much better than I did when I had my first litter."'

Roxas just rolled his eyes and eyed the child in Axel's arms intently, ever wishing to hold him. Axel was smiling down at him and Roxas wanted so much to look at the baby's face and smile just like Axel was. It wasn't fair, not at all.

"He's a Kitsune," Axel announced softly as he ran his hand over the babe and watched it react to his own magic, the little ears atop his head twitching while he listened to the sound of his papa's voice.

Roxas' first litter eventually produced four; two kits and two kittens. The first was named Reno; he was announced to be a Kitsune as well as a Beta. The second was named Cloud; he was a Neko and took much of his features after his Omega as well as taking on that caste as an Omega himself. The third was a little blond-haired Kitsune, Prompto he was named, a Beta, and his little sister Stella she was named, came right after him as a young blonde-haired Neko who had a high sensitivity to magic just like her Omega who she shared the same caste in.

The tensions and anger receded once Roxas bore his own litter. The tender care to accomplish for taking care of a litter was all-too-easy for the Neko since he had taken a part of raising Xion's first litter. Axel, the Neko's mate, had been relieved that his first mate had settled his mourning spirit and now that he watched him with the litter, one that he could call his own, Axel smiled.

"Thank-you, Axel," Xion spoke up a she came by her mate's side to watch her partner play with his own litter. "I know it was very uncivil, what you did, but Roxas needed a litter of his own to ease his mind."

"I know it was what he wanted," Axel said, glancing toward his second mate and smiling at the little pup on Xion's hip who was growing in time with his litter-sisters. Axel reached out and pinched the little Beta's cheek before the dark-haired pup wiggled away from him and pressed his face into his mother's shoulder. Axel let out a sigh and returned to watching Roxas. "That Neko has a tendency to hate himself when he perceives himself to be useless. It happened before we were mated and then from him not being able to conceive afterwards."

"He'll always be wanted here, no matter what," Xion said as she looked on fondly at her partner-mate who looked like he was having the time of his life with his own litter.

It had been amazing how Roxas had changed in attitude after he had given birth—more so when he had conceived again quite quickly. When he had birthed his second litter, there were three children, two Nekos and one Kitsune. This Kitsune whom had been named Naminé had seemed to have unsettled her papa. She had taken the features of her Omega but her face seemed to have reminded Axel of someone from his past. Xion and Roxas could tell by the way he looked at her and how he often got lost in his own thoughts while holding the kit.

"It's strange," Roxas said as he bounced the two little Nekos on his knees, Neku and Shelke they had been named, both Omegas like their litter-sister, Naminé. "I've never seen him like this before." Both he and Xion were currently in the nursery of their newest dwelling, but their mate, Axel, was sitting only on the other side of the room, holding Naminé and staring intently at her, but his gaze seemed to give off a far-off distance in them.

"Really?" Xion asked as she reached down and pet the oldest of Roxas' second litter, Neku's head. "Not even when you first met him?"

The Inu watched Roxas go back into memory before he shrugged his shoulders. "He was hurt pretty bad when I found him. Suggestions of chains were imprinted on his wrists and neck. I knew he was a Kitsune and so there was no doubt he had escaped imprisonment."

"Did he ever tell you how he escaped?" Xion inquired but Roxas only shook his head and looked at the Inu.

"He didn't even tell me who had imprisoned him. In fact I still can't speak about that subject to him without him not talking to me for days," Roxas said with a sigh as he turned back to watched Axel reach down into the white blanket wrapped around their daughter, Naminé, and pet her golden locks and rub her small ears.

"It's so sad," Xion said with a sigh before one of her children, Vanille, a little red-haired kit she had birthed in her second litter, had run into her legs, begging her with those beautiful green eyes she got from her sire to be held. She picked her kit up and set her on her lap while the little one immediately went to gazing at Roxas' little ones. "It's very sad how mistreated Kitsune's are. I don't know what I'd do if I lost mine." At that, Xion tightened her hold around her daughter and kissed the top of her head.

Roxas had birthed three kits and four kittens while Xion had also birthed three kits herself and four pups. They both grew up on tales of the rare race and now that they were mates to such a magical creature they were afraid—afraid of what society and the known world would do if they got a hold of their children.

The lore around the mysterious race of Kitsunes was so seldom heard and somewhat sacred to talk about that neither knew what would happen if bounty hunters and slave traders got a hold of the kits and their papa. Both had an eerie feeling that Axel knew but he never spoke about it and both wondered if they wanted to know.

But one day, when Roxas' youngest litter were turning the tender age of four, Axel had been near Naminé, the little kit was sitting in his lap while drawing with the crayons her papa gave her when she had apparently drawn something that offended him.

"Kairi, no!"

Axel had jumped up, tossed his daughter's sketchbook down while she slid off his lap and about cried. Xion and Roxas had turned and watched their mate's reaction. He looked shaken. His eyes wide and his breathing labored.

"Axel, are you alright?" Xion asked.

Roxas had looked at his daughter who was near to tears before turning his blue gaze back up toward his mate's form. "Who's Kairi, Axel?"

When Axel looked at the two of them he opened his mouth as if to say something, but instead he shook his head, rose his hand and left. He left their home and slammed the door behind him. The moment his presence was gone from the home, Naminé began to cry and in so followed the rest of the little ones.

Roxas and Xion did their best to settle the children but with their papa gone, all feared he would never come back and so eventually the two adults had no choice but to wait until the children cried themselves to sleep. Both had two litters to care for and so neither could go out in search of their mate and so they stayed home, sleeping next to their periodically weeping little ones to hold them close and let them know that they were there to stay.


	2. You Must Be Aware

Roxas woke after a little while and looked at his children. They were sound asleep and in that he looked down at the crumbled paper Axel had stepped on when Naminé had drawn it. It was strange because the girl normally drew depictions of their family or sometimes pictures of the future. One time she had drawn this very house a good two years before they had moved into it. Axel had said she had a higher level of insight magic than most of her Kitsune siblings, but as of any ability to produce fox-fires like her older siblings, Genesis, Lea, and Prompto, Reno, and Vanille, it was unclear.

But this drawing was unlike Roxas had ever seen. It was a grim drawing and Roxas wondered what it could be. In the picture there were depicted three beings, all bound and chained, and all weeping in agony. The two smaller ones were redheads while the older one who was hunched over the smaller ones was that of a blond of some sort. Of what Roxas could tell, they were all Kitsunes from the size of their ears and shape of their tails.

When Roxas heard their front door open, he quickly shoved the picture under his shirt and closed his eyes as if to feign sleep. When he heard the being enter their sleeping chambers and stop moving he opened his eyes and beheld his mate. Axel was leaning down and petting Naminé's face, his own features looking quite sad.

Axel had always been highly acute and Roxas wondered if that was because of his natural high magical levels or just skill but the Kitsune's ears turned toward him and his eyes were soon looming over him. He knew that Roxas was awake.

"I didn't upset her too badly, did I?" Axel asked while his gaze fell back upon the girl whose ears twitched at the slight touch from Axel's fingers.

Roxas let out a sigh and rolled his eyes before he leaned himself up and looked at his mate to realize his movement had woken Xion next to him who looked all too happy to see her mate again.

"She and the others cried all day," Roxas mentioned and then touched the little ones' wet cheeks. "They sometimes cry every now and then in their sleep."

Axel let out a sigh before he sat himself down and slumped his shoulders. "Sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean to upset them so much."

"They weren't the only ones upset," Xion spoke up and touched Roxas on the shoulder to let him know she was just behind him.

"Axel," Roxas began as he pulled the picture out of his shirt and then showed it to his mate. "What happened? Why did you react to this like that?"

Axel took the picture in his hand and gaze at it sadly. Roxas was sure Xion felt that same sharp pain he felt as they watched their mate bow his head and show the tell-tale signs of trembling in his shoulders.

"She really is gifted," Axel said with a trembling sigh while he reached down and pet his daughter again. "I knew a girl so very much like her . . ."

"Kairi," Roxas whispered before looking at Axel in the eyes. "It was Kairi, wasn't it?"

Axel smiled sadly and nodded his head. "She was my sister," Axel admitted and Roxas and Xion glanced toward one another before turning back in silence toward their mate. "And Naminé . . . she looks so much like her that I . . . I forgot my place."

"Where is she?" Xion spoke up softly.

"She's right here," Axel said as he ran his fingers over his daughter's drawing of the small red-haired girl she drew just that morning, "and here," there he pointed toward his heart and when he looked up at his mates both gasped at seeing the makings of tears in his eyes.

"Axel," Roxas gasped as he moved closer to the Kitsune and held him close to let him know he was there but also to steady his wavering form.

"Sorry," Axel said as he patted Roxas' arms around him. "I just hadn't thought about her and I was just so amazed that I even remembered her name."

"Please, tell us, Axel, what happened?" Xion pressed as she too moved herself closer to her mate and made sure he felt her.

There was a silence before Axel glanced back down at the crayoned picture and then let out a steadying breath.

"I once belonged to a family," Axel began. "I was born the oldest from a litter of four. My litter-siblings were all sisters, all Omegas . . . I can . . . barely remember their faces, their names slip my mind, but I remember the face of my mother. She had been a red Ferret Omega, so beautiful, and Kairi had looked so much like her. She was born in the second litter, an Omega, but also a Kitsune. She and I had been the only Kitsune's born from our litters, me, amongst my sisters and Kairi amongst her two sisters and brother.

"Our sire . . . he was the Kitsune and I, hardly remember his face, but I do know he was a golden Kitsune just as Naminé had drawn." Axel looked down at the picture but when his eyes looked upon the form Roxas and Xion noticed was his sire they watched a sort of anger show in those emeralds before Axel looked away and said, "One day . . . we were found. Bounty Hunters, so many of them. My Sire tried to fend them off but mom . . . she couldn't get away because . . . because she was expecting, and we, we were so scared that wherever we ran to a Bounty Hunter caught us. They killed every one of my siblings that weren't Kitsune and took Kairi and me. My mother, they slaughtered with no guilt and the bodies of my siblings were just left there to rot."

Roxas and Xion listened carefully and soon they were clinging closer to their mate who began baring his fangs at the memory of anger and anguish.

"My Sire tried to fight and take me and Kairi back but there were just too many and they overwhelmed him. We were all bound and chained and when we were sold the prices went so high, so high. My Sire was sold to someone else but me and my sister were sold to one man. He was a cruel man and often beat us. I tried my best to protect her but sometimes I would be dragged away and he'd, he'd do who knows what to her. We survived for a few years but a madness overcame our owner and he sought for immortality."

"No one can have that, it's impossible," Xion said.

But Axel continued slowly as he glanced down and sadness overtook him, "But some rumored saying that a young pure Kitsune's heart can grant that. Our owner turned away from me seeing how hateful I had become, but my sister . . . she was still so young and pure that he . . . he took her heart and ate it like that madman he was!"

Roxas placed his hands upon Axel's clenched trembling fists and ignored the slowly rising heat he felt from them.

"And when I saw what he did to my sister, I showed him just how incorrect that rumor was. I burned him; I burned him and everyone else in that home to a fucking crisp! I wanted to take her with me when I escaped, my sister, but she was gone. Everything was ash after the flame died out so I fled alone and after falling down to where I couldn't move any longer . . . you found me, Roxas."

Axel looked at Roxas while the Neko's eyes widened. He hadn't known how quickly he had found the Kitsune after such an incident. He hadn't heard of any fire near where he had lived and so wondered how far Axel had actually traveled. But after hearing the story, Roxas raised himself and hugged his mate close.

"I'm so sorry, Axel," Roxas cried into his neck. "I hadn't known."

Xion had thrown herself upon her Alpha's lap and cried as well, but Axel wrapped both his arms around them and held them close. "That's something I never want the two of you or our children to know. Never."

And so, with sweet comforting kisses, Axel laid down next to his mates and laid near their children, all hugging close to the other to sleep in peaceful bliss.

But after troubling thoughts since morning, Axel's dreams would not let him alone and disturbing images were dug up from the past he tried so hard to forget.

_He had never felt so free like when he was running down that hill, his little sisters chasing after him. His arms outstretched like that of a bird and his ears down to make him go faster. When he reached the bottom and touched the tree line first he looked back and chuckled, watching his sisters simply roll down the hill, some already having stopped to simply pick at flowers and stick them in their red or golden hair._

_"You girls like flowers too much!" he said as he called out to them, but they had long since ignored his remarks._

_"That's not true, Lea, little brother here likes it," one of his sisters pointed out as the youngest of the siblings sat there amongst his sisters and let the older ones do what they wished with his hair._

_"Ugh, you're turning him into a girl, Kairi!" Lea shouted as he marched up to the two and quickly pulled the flowers out of his little brother's hair. "Stop trying to turn him into an Omega!"_

_"Hey, just because you're an Alpha does NOT mean you can boss us around!" the little Kitsune said as she hissed at her older brother._

_"Actually, it does," Lea said with a chuckle as he snapped at his sister with his fangs playfully while enjoying his status as an Alpha and thusly having the right to exercise his dominance over every Omega, including those pesky sisters of his._

_"Lea, what did I tell you?"_

_Lea's ears flattened atop his wild red hair as he turned and looked over toward his sire. "Sorry, papa."_

_"Ha, some Alpha you are," Kairi teased before shoving him and running off toward their sire, a golden Kitsune who was currently sitting next to his mate, a very expecting Omega red Ferret._

_"Walk, not run," their sire commanded as the children neared their parents. With all smiles the girls all touched their mother's tummy and giggled at feeling the children underneath move._

_"Ugh, they'd better be brothers. I've had enough of sisters," Lea said as he leaned against a tree and crossed his arms._

_"You need to get along better with your sisters, Lea," his sire said with a hard citrine glare. "What if the new litter consists of only girls?"_

_"Tcheh, then I'm leavin'," Lea said carelessly._

_"You are not; you've got nowhere to go, silly!" His litter-sisters said as they ran past him and finally came to their mother to touch her._

_"Who asked you? !" Lea shouted, his face red before he crossed his arms._

_"Lea, sweetheart, don't you want to feel them? They're moving right now," his Omega mother said with that sweet smile of hers beckoning her oldest to come to her side. Lea almost did but he was and always had been a stubborn child and so stuck his nose in the air and turned himself around so that his back was facing the rest of his family._

_"No!" Lea denied. "I don't want more sisters."_

_He remembered his mother chuckling and he swore he could hear the aggravated tone in his father's voice as he shook his head but instead he just ran back toward the hill to run down it and then up it again. He had done this all day until his little legs about gave out on him. When he sat himself down he looked up and watched the sun begin to set. In the air he could smell the meal fire going and soon his stomach growled._

_"Dinner!"_

_That was his mother and that was his meal. So he quickly got up and ran toward the small cottage he and his family lived in to find the bench outside already littered with delicious dishes and his siblings already seated._

_"Hey, give me some room!" Lea whined as he tried pushing his way into a seat but was denied by his sisters._

_"No! You're late and so you eat on the ground!" they argued. Lea hadn't liked that and so growled at them, successfully making them back away and scoot for a placed for him to sit. Just as he sat himself down he felt a hardy whack on the back of his skull._

_"Ow!" Lea yelped and turned to see his tall father looming over him with glowing citrines. "What?"_

_"How many times have I told you not to insert your dominance over your siblings?" The older Kitsune asked._

_"Enough," Lea said as he turned away from his father._

_"Let him be, Ansem," Lea's mother said as she began taking up bowls and pouring in soup she had made. "He's getting ready to hit puberty. All Alphas around his age act like that."_

_"But I never mistreated my siblings like him," Ansem, Lea's father, protested. But his mate only rose a brow and stuck her fists to her wide hips._

_"Shall I ask your sister about the time you set a flame to her tail or how about your brother who still has that scar on his paw from . . .?"_

_"Enough, I've heard enough," Ansem said before seating himself. "I can never win with you."_

_"Of course," the Omega said with a giggle as she leaned down and gave her mate a smooch before continuing to feed her eight children._

_After dinner the children were allowed to run off and settle their stomachs but most contented to look up into the night sky and count the stars._

_"I've got one thousand three hundred and thirty-four," Kairi said with that toothy grin of hers._

_"What?" Lea questioned, turning his head toward the little redheaded Kitsune Omega. "There's more than that."_

_"Then how many, Lea?" Kairi asked as she crossed her arms and looked at her older brother like he didn't know what he was talking about._

_"W-Well, much more," Lea said, he probably should have had a number to back his statement up._

_"How much more?" Kairi again asked._

_"Millions upon billions."_

_The two turned to see their sire who happened upon his children's' conversation. Kairi smiled before getting up and hugging her father's legs. "Wow, that's so many," she said with those wide eyes of hers._

_"Indeed, now let's get inside. Your stomachs are settled enough," Ansem said. Kairi nodded and followed the rest of her siblings inside to where their mother awaited to wrap them in blankets for the night. "Lea, are you coming?"_

_"Five more minutes?" Lea asked._

_Ansem sighed before nodding his head and seating himself next to his son. "As long as you don't mind your 'old man' sitting with you."_

_"Nah, you can do whatever," Lea said as he looked up at the stars above._

_Just when everyone began to settle down Lea had been startled by his Sire suddenly speaking up. "Are you really that afraid of more sisters, Lea?"_

_Lea looked over toward his sire and then back up toward the stars. He shrugged and then nodded. "Sort of," he said._

_"Why, do you detest them that much?" Ansem asked._

_"No, but . . . they're all Omegas and so they follow me around; it just gets annoying," Lea said with a scrunched up face._

_"I see what this is," Ansem said before leaning over his son and bopping his eldest's round nose. "You're afraid to be the leader to more little ones. Well, I'm sorry, Lea, but being an Alpha means you must lead."_

_"But there are so many of them. How can I protect them on my own?" Lea asked. "There's just one me."_

_"You get stronger," Ansem answered._

_"How?" Lea asked._

_Ansem let out a sigh and stood himself up. "Tomorrow, we'll start honing your magical capabilities and find out how high your levels are."_

_"Will that help?" Lea asked as he sat himself up and looked up at his father. Ansem nodded with a smile and then held out his hand._

_Just as Lea reached out to his parent, Ansem jerked his head around. He seemed to be scanning something and Lea knew his father set up barriers around their home to let him know if someone had entered his territory._

_"Lea, get down!" Ansem shouted and just as Lea dunked he watched as someone came running out at them and about grabbed a hold of him if it hadn't been for his sire who quickly grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and with glowing hands, had the man burst into a light and vanished._

_"What . . . did you do to him?" Lea asked, shaken up by the encounter but even more so at seeing what his father had down do another being._

_"Later, Lea," Ansem said as he pressed his son down to do the ground and scanned their surroundings. "There's more of them. Listen, Lea, I need you to run in that direction and keep running until you can't any longer."_

_"What, why?" Lea asked as he looked into his father's eyes and then at the direction he was pointing. "If-If I do then how will you find me?"_

_"I'll find you, you have to trust me, now go!" Ansem shouted before pushing his son forward and turning to run back in the direction of their cottage._

_Lea had taken a few running starts but he always seemed to stop, especially when he heard the distressed cry of his mother. Turning back, against his father's wish, he ran full on toward the cottage. Coming to a halt his eyes widened at the horrors before him._

_There he watched his sire suddenly become overwhelmed by their attackers and no matter how hard he tried he could not get them off of him. Because of their Alpha parent down, Lea watched the men drag his mother out with his sisters and brother clinging to her. She was crying out, reaching toward her children to shield them from those who wished them harm._

_Lea jerked toward a high pitched scream and watched in frozen fear as his little sister, Kairi, was taking up into a stranger's arms, he was laughing as he was holding her. He was pulling on her tail and ears as if checking if they were real. Of course they were real, why would they think otherwise?_

_"No!" Lea heard his mother cry out as she ripped herself from the attacker holding her and crawled toward the man who snatched up her daughter. "Kairi! My daughter!" she cried as she wrapped her arms around the man's legs and begged him to let her child go._

_The man then kicked her, right in her protruding belly. She gasped as she rolled over but he didn't stop. He kept kicking and kicking until his mother moved no more. "M-Mom," Lea gasped out, his limbs shaking at the sight and soon he was walking toward them, slowly but in enough time he broke out into a run. "MOM!"_

_"Lea, NO!" He heard his father cry but he ignored him and ran right toward his mother and the men surrounding her._

_"I'll kill you!" Lea cried out as his fist lit aflame and he readied to punch the attack, but just as he was upon him, someone grabbed his elbow and spun him around before they also took hold of his arms and neck. "STOP!" Lea cried out, turning his head around to watch the man holding his sister pick his mother up by her red locks and hold her in front of him tauntingly. He could see the blood running down her lips and her blue eyes looked at him in fear._

_"Just two, Omega?" the man said, motioning toward Kairi and then toward Lea as he shook Lea's mother a bit. "Huh, how useless."_

_Lea then watched in horror as the man's claws ripped open his mother's belly and then her throat before tossing her toward the ground._

_"NO! ! ! !" Lea had wanted to cry out, but instead the cry from his father was heard and just as he struggled to be free, the captors holding him down hit him so hard on the head he fell unconscious._

_"Only three, boys, that's the highest number anyone's found!" the man holding Kairi said as he shook the poor kit around like a prize trophy. "I say that calls for a celebration before the auction!"_

_"Yeah!" the rest cheered and then Lea watched in horror as his siblings were slaughtered. Some tried to run away, but most were too scared to run. Most stayed by their mother's side as she lay there bleeding out._

_He could hear their cries and the pain he felt when they were cut short killed him. Their tear and terror-filled faces haunted him and Lea suddenly found himself dead to the world, his eyes frozen still upon his mother's lifeless form. Looking down he could see there were three little ones that had come out of her belly. They were dead, just like the rest of his family and Lea was scared to death._

_He had been crying the day he was auctioned, and so had Kairi. Their father was near them, trying to shield them even though his bound hands prevented him from doing much. Lea had never seen his father so hurt in his life and seeing his strong Alpha parent so beaten and defeated scarred Lea and his sister._

_When they were bought, they both cried out when they were ripped from their sire's side. Lea, though, remembered his father's final parting words._

_"Protect your sister, Lea. Don't let her down . . . don't let me down," Ansem said as he watched his remaining children get dragged off stage and fitted with chains to be sent to their new owner._

_But Axel couldn't protect Kairi. Their new owner was a cruel old Ookami Alpha and they were just a form of entertainment aside from trophies of a rare collection. He would beat them. Lea tried to take more of the blows but after unconsciousness took him his sister would receive the intended blows after all._

_So through the years they grew like this and then their owner had been increasingly curious about Kairi. Many a time he would have her at his side while Lea he would keep away. This caused problems to the extent Lea would sneak into his owner's room to take his sister back only to receive a beating again._

_In fact, Lea had just received a beating for the pure entertainment from the crowd around to see if they could invoke his magical abilities. Neither one in the crowd cared if his spurting blood spewed across their clothing or faces; in fact, Lea had shivered in disgust at seeing them lick the red substance like some sweet nectar. _

_"Drink up, my guests," Lea's owner encouraged in that horrid ragged voice of his. "It is said that a Kitsune's blood is full of magical components said to turn the elderly young and the sick healed. But, what I have heard about Kitsunes fascinate me even more." Lea watched as the old Alpha motioned for Kairi, who had been serving drinks, to closen toward him and Lea immediately grew worried._

_When Kairi was within reach the old man fingered her longer red locks, making the already frightened girl tremble more. "They say that the purest of Kitsunes hearts hold the secret of immortality and that all that pent up magic will flow into the being who eats it."_

_It was too late for Lea to react beforehand. He watched in wide-eyed horror as that damned old man reached in and ripped his sister's heart right out of her very chest. It was still beating when that sick fucker bit down on it and began eating it._

_Kairi on the other hand had fallen and down the stairs her lifeless form fell until it reached the bottom of the platform and laid only feet away from Lea._

_"Kairi . . . Kairi . . .?" Lea called out, completely surprised and horrified by his sister's sudden . . . death._

_He could hear the others, they were laughing at him, as if he shouldn't feel anything at all. As if he shouldn't even feel the hurt of losing his sister, the only family he had left. They were all watching him as he crawled toward her, picking her up and looking at her. Her face frozen in time from the horror of her heart being taken out._

_Lea shook his head, not believing this had happened. No, this was just one of those nightmares that Lea often had in this wretched place. This couldn't be real, it just couldn't._

_When his tears fell down he heard his owner. He was done eating his sister's pure heart and now the others around were asking if he felt any different and if he indeed had immortality. _

_"Perhaps you should eat that one's heart too, just in case," Lea had heard from those people around him._

_"No, he's tainted. His sister though, I made sure to keep pure for this very moment," his owner had said._

_"Then how do you know?"_

_"Yes, show us a sign."_

_"Entertain us."_

_"Entertain us."_

_"Entertain?" Lea questioned as he held his sister close and wept. He couldn't even protect her. He was a failure. A failure to his father, his mother, his sisters, his brother. Why was he even born? Why did nature even allow his worthless existence? !_

_Suddenly a flame engulfed his entire being and as he held his sister close he hadn't even felt her body wither away from him as he cried. "You want entertainment, you animals? !"_

_When Lea's glowing green eyes met that old man's who had bought him and his sister. Lea reveled in the scene of the purity—of the purity of fear._

_Nothing was left._

_The ashes scattered in the wind and the land around upturned, not a single blade of grass was left. And Lea trembled when he held those ashes in his hands. His mouth opened and he cried out. Cried out so loud that the heavens heard him._

_His tears hadn't stopped, even as he aimlessly walked on. Day and night he continued and when he finally collapsed to the ground from sheer exhaustion Lea prayed for death to take him and to reunite him with his sister and mother and the rest of his siblings that he had forgotten the faces of._

_"Kairi," Lea cried out, reaching up to the sun above. "Kairi."_

_When his body moved no more, Lea decided to meet death wide awake and so kept his eyes open, watching as the corners of his eyes blackened before the rest of his vision began to fade._

_He wanted the last sight of his life to be staring up at the sun, the big star, as his little sister Kairi had named it, but something hid it from his view and when Lea gasped he realized he had more breath left still in him._

_It had been the sight of the most beautiful Neko he had ever seen._


	3. You Must Never Regret

**DOTR: Well, hope you guys enjoyed. I'll be working on a chapter for "K for Kings of Heart" now but not too sure how quickly I'll update it since my Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) fanfic became surprisingly popular and many people have asked for a sequel I was thinking of writing such a thing, so my mind's kinda on that right now. But fear not! I still love the Kingdom Hearts fandom so hang in there with me, fans! :D**

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"No . . . no, Kairi . . . m-mom . . . Roxas," Axel moaned in his sleep, his head tossing back and forth and the cries had woken his mates.

"Axel, easy, we're here," Roxas whispered so not to wake the still slumbering children.

When Roxas touched the Alpha's face he grimaced at the feel of drenched skin. It was a nightmare and Roxas could tell it was about his past. So, Roxas leaned down and kissed Axel gently. It lasted as long as the Kitsune awoke and when he did Roxas pulled away and smiled softly while his fingers evenly stroked the Alpha's red locks of hair.

"That's right," Roxas whispered. "Just look at us."

When Roxas leaned down again he kissed him close and didn't stop until Axel responded in kind. Leaning over him more, Roxas hooked a leg over and straddled Axel's waist, pressing his torso against his Alpha firmly. The feeling of Axel's hand rubbing his thigh made Roxas smile and so he rolled his hips down once and after hearing Axel moan, Roxas heard Xion shuffle behind him and turned his eyes to see her quietly and softly move the closest children away and cuddle close to them, urging Roxas to continue.

When Roxas managed to snake his tongue inside his mate's mouth he mewled when Axel took hold of it with his fangs and began to suck on the muscle. In that moment, Roxas felt Axel knead his behind, those devilish hands sneaking into his night pants and tugging at the base of his tail.

Moaning in pleasure, Roxas wrapped his golden tail around Axel's wrist and pulled, encouraging him to continue his ministrations. But instead of pulling at the base of Roxas' tail, Axel's fingers traveled downward and rubbed at his puckered entrance that reacted in kind to his touch.

Roxas opened his mouth but only a silent gasp left. He knew if the children woke up then they'd have to stop immediately, but Roxas had no intention of stopping and so kept to his silence. Grinding into his Alpha, Roxas lowered his ears and looked up at the Kitsune with pleading and needing eyes. Roxas shivered to himself when he watched that glow appear in Axel's eyes—loving a magical Kitsune never was so pleasurable.

Since the race could bend the fabric of magic to their very whim, Kitsunes made excellent lovers. They could create a spell upon their lover to give off the impression that their body was in heat and thusly more sensitive to any touch or kiss. Axel applied this ability to both his lovers for better sex on both parts—the high sensibility for the Omega, and the easy penetration for the Alpha.

Roxas closed his eyes, he could feel that seductive spell and whatever place Axel touched, he could feel that magical heat enter into his body and soon he felt as if he travailed the borders of heat. It was because of this that he hadn't even felt when Axel removed the clothing covering from the cold night air. No, he just felt heat.

Roxas mouthed 'Axel' knowing that no matter the silence, his mate would hear his need. Pressing himself closer, Roxas knew the Kitsune could feel his arousal and in one particular grind, Roxas gasped and felt his mate's own arousal.

When Roxas was flipped over, he steadily positioned himself on all fours; his elbows locked and his knees spread apart. Closing his eyes he reveled in the feel of his mate over him, those warm hands rubbing his sides and ribcage. Often times Axel would take his time in feeling his Omega's body and he seemed to be doing so right now as each finger dipped and rose in the crevices of Roxas' body before they reached his shoulder blades and the Kitsune leaned down and attached his mouth to Roxas' shoulder.

Roxas inhaled a pleasured breath, turning his face toward his mate and when he purred Axel bit down, though not too hard this time. Unlike Xion, Roxas liked to be handled roughly by his mate, which the Kitsune would often oblige, but tonight, he was gentle and slower. When he rubbed himself against Roxas' entrance, the Neko had expected a quick penetration, but nothing of the sort happened.

Roxas would have cried out in protest but with the children around he had to be quiet and so the feisty blond had a feeling Axel was doing this on purpose. So when Roxas looked back he meant to glare at his mate into getting him to do what he wanted, but the moment he turned toward him he froze from feeling Axel grab a hold of his balls and knead them between his fingers. Roxas' mouth opened but he was quiet. With eyes scrunched tight Roxas leaned down to the floor and laid his head upon his arms that had spread out on the ground the moment his elbows buckled and hit the floor underneath him.

Because of this, Roxas hadn't even felt the head of Axel's cock enter him. It was only when the shaft began pushing its way in that Roxas gasped and felt the penetration. Even though the situation had given way for Axel to mate with him gently, once inside, Axel felt no need to take such advantages anymore.

"Hu-ah!" Roxas was quick to cover his mouth less any other sound escape his deceiving lips. He had not expected Axel to pull out so quickly only to push back inside harder than when he first entered. And his mate wasn't slowing down either. Axel was ramming into him, hitting him as hard as he could with his pelvis and in so penetrating deep and hard.

Roxas liked it this way because he liked to scream, but with the children slumbering so close, Roxas couldn't help but weakly wish Axel slow down. But he didn't. No, he pulled Roxas' hips closer toward him as he thrust into him so forcefully that Roxas had a hard time bracing himself on the floor.

The feel of everything so heightened had Roxas covering his face in his arms, panting like a wild dog. With his ears pinned back, Roxas wrapped his tail around Axel's waist to steady himself more. It was thanks to his Neko tail that Roxas could hold on unlike Xion's weaker and straighter tail and he knew for a fact that Axel liked the feel of his tail wrapped around him so tightly.

He felt one of Axel's hands fall away from his tail to rub the tail around him, often tugging at it to make Roxas squeeze him tighter. The effect was simultaneous pleasure for Axel and Roxas, both opening their mouths in silent moans. This would often cause the climax to reach sooner than normal but Roxas didn't mind. He was used to this, as was Axel and so when their climax was upon them they both knew how to handle the short-lived pleasure:

Start up again.

Roxas came first, his juices running down from his entrance dripped off his cock to mix into the semen spluttering out onto the floor underneath him. When Axel came, he wasn't the type to still himself, no he always rode out his orgasms no matter which mate he was inside. When with Roxas though, he kept his thrusts still quite hard and deep as his orgasm washed over him, this was only because he needed to pick up momentum for the second time.

Because Roxas and Axel came so fast they would often mate at least twice or more times before allowing Xion with her Alpha. This wasn't because of Roxas being Axel's first mate because there had been some days Roxas just hadn't wanted to mate with his Alpha when Xion did and so sometimes she had him all to herself and vice versa with Roxas at times. It was a secret arrangement that the three had agreed on and so far it wasn't affecting their sex-life or their close relationship at all.

So when Axel started up again, awakening even Roxas' arousal, the Kitsune turned toward his second mate, the Inu. She was still near the children, every now and then giving the pups, kits, and kittens an affectionate lick when they seemed they were waking, but he could see the want in her deep blue eyes. The signs of her hand rubbing her thighs showed her mate she was ready for him and so Axel licked his lips in a silent promise of what was to come for her.

Focusing back on the Neko he was currently mounting, Axel pulled at the boy's arms, surprising his mate and managed to penetrate him at a different angle. Now all Roxas had to steady him was his knees on the ground and his tail still tightly wrapped around Axel's waist while the Kitsune pulled his arms back behind him and held on closely as he thrust into him. Roxas' mouth hung open, wanting to scream and screech but Roxas refrained for the children and the pleasure he just didn't want to end.

So his second orgasm was stronger than his first and dare he say it lasted longer. Once again Axel rode out his own orgasm quite hard but Roxas could feel him slowing down and the thick swelled cock inside him was deflating. When both were milked of their essence they stilled themselves, Roxas easily seated on his mate's lap as he panted and Axel with his arms wrapped around him.

When the last rolling waves of pleasure shivered over them, Axel unwrapped the tail around his waist and turned Roxas around, kissing him sweetly. Roxas purred at the affection and rubbed his sharp nose against Axel's nose before sighing in satisfaction and pulling away to wrap himself in a blanket to shield his naked body from the cold night.

Axel smiled softly at Roxas as he cocooned himself in the blanket and laid himself down. After motioning an affectionate kiss in the air toward his first mate, Axel's glowing green eyes turned toward his eagerly awaiting second mate. Motioning her closer, Xion was all too quick to leave the children's side to cling to her mate.

Looking up with longing in her eyes made Axel smile as he ran his fingers through her dark hair and then across her plump cheeks. Leaning down, Axel kissed her and she in return kissed him back. She had always been a shy girl even when mating she wasn't too vocal like Roxas was but in saying nothing with her voice she spoke volumes with those wide eyes of hers.

Immediately, as Axel pulled away and the Inu opened her eyes to look at him, they were darker and Axel knew what she was commanding him to do. So, Axel gently laid her back and began unbuttoning her clothing. When her chest was bare before him, Axel leaned down and captured a nipple between his teeth and lightly nibbled on it before letting it go and moving toward the other one. Xion was relatively small for a female. Axel had seen larger on other females, but those females happened to be Alphas and in fact he's most seen female Omegas about this size, but he liked Xion's breast size the way it was.

Xion opened those cherry-lips of hers in the shape of an "o" and Axel closed his eyes and shake off the shiver of pleasure by just seeing her reactions. Xion loved mating while looking at her Alpha while Roxas enjoyed mating in the traditional mounting style for deeper penetration and so Axel found he quite liked the facial-gestures that he invoked and he reveled in the power to make his mates feel like this.

Applying the same kind of magic to prepare Xion the Inu was more than ready as her creamy white thighs pulled Axel close to her and her hands held tight onto his biceps. Axel smiled and leaned down to pepper her neck and chest with light kisses before entering her. If there was one thing Axel knew from having two mates where one was a male and the other a female was the difference in penetration. Roxas happened to remain tighter most of the time and was sometimes opt to tearing if he wasn't careful, while Xion was must more moist and her vaginal walls much more sturdy, meaning Axel could thrust harder into her, perhaps harder than how Roxas liked, but the Inu Omega liked it slow and long and Axel quite agreed he liked it this way with her as well.

So Xion got to experience watching those glowing emeralds of her Alpha as he made love to her. The way their glow heightened when he penetrated deeper or when she squeezed him tighter and when Axel closed his eyes at the pleasure being presented to him was enough to make Xion climax and in that she grabbed a hold of Axel's face, pet his high cheek bones and then pulled him close to kiss him sweetly.

Axel was the one who wrapped the young Inu in a blanket and placed her next to Roxas who was cuddling the children in Xion's place. Leaning down and kissing the both of them on their ears he whispered to each closely, "I love you, Roxas. I love you, Xion."

Then he proceeded in kissing each of his fourteen little ones before leaving their small cottage and walking down to the lake near their home to cleanse himself. When he finished wetting his hair he shook the droplets off of his mane and then off his bare shoulders. But when he heard a sound behind him he quickly turned and threw a fox-fire at the bush behind him.

He succeeded in burning the foliage but something had stopped his flame from burning the hidden one. Instead this person came out of hiding and casually walked down toward the lake and Axel quite wondered if he even knew he was standing there.

"What are you doing within my territory?" Axel asked quite pressingly, his defense up and fox-fires ready. He had wondered how he couldn't smell this man. It was strange, as if he emitted no scent at all.

There it was, silence again and so Axel raised a brow. Ceasing his fox-fires, Axel let out a sigh; this man dressed in red must have wandered into his territory without knowing it—the common excuse.

"Kitsune's don't have territories."

Once again, Axel's defense was up and he narrowed his eyes and examined the man closely to determine if he was a notable enemy he may have to fend off.

"What makes you say that, you old man?" Axel asked, a growl of threatening danger in his tone.

"They are part of this land but can never own it like the rest of the races . . . such is the price for nature giving them its secret of magic," the man in red said before he looked at him.

"What are you here for, old man?" Axel hissed. "If you're looking for a fight, you've got one."

"Was that your cottage?"

Axel blinked, taken aback by this stranger's sudden change of subject.

"I saw two Omega mothers and quite a number of children inside slumbering. Are they yours?" He inquired and suddenly Axel felt a fear and the urge to run back to the cottage to check on his mates and children.

"What have you done to them? !" Axel demanded.

"Nothing," the man answered as he turned his gaze over the moon reflecting lake. "Just observed. I am sure you love them dearly."

It was a soft phrase that oddly enough struck Axel quite tenderly in his heart. He didn't know why it affected him like such but he did not waver his defense from the stranger. So, taking up his wet clothing, Axel backed away, ready to head back to the cottage to be by his mates and children's side.

Just when Axel turned from the man in silence something that the red clothed being said stopped him.

"I once had a family of my own . . . believing that the territory and house I had created for them would sustain them and keep them safe, but how often do we forget that we are cursed because of our coronation by nature."

Axel turned his head toward the man and eyed him warily before he spoke again and said something that even Axel found himself relating to.

"Because of my ignorance I lost my mate and my children. The two remaining; I could barely look at them because of how much I had failed them. So I was almost happy when I was sold to a different owner as my two little ones," the man said as he looked down at his covered hands before once again looking out into the lake's waters. "How cruel the world perceives us just because we have something they don't. They had wanted me to create more of my race, but the young Omega they presented me was so scared and beaten, alone, like me and so we made a pact—I assured nothing more would pass on my genetics and she—I set her free from this world."

"Kitsunes," Axel whispered when he realized this man was a Kitsune like himself and that just like he had, he had been sold and had horrible things done to him and no doubt did horrible things to escape.

The man looked at him with a sad smile and said, "It's a hard life, young Kitsune, but one must press on, not for oneself but for the family they protect."

"But . . . yours was taken from you . . . what are you still fighting for?" Axel asked, his spirit now heavy from hearing this mysterious Kitsune's story.

"I once asked that myself," the man in red said as he reached his hand up to tug at the red fabric covering his face. "So I told myself it was to meet my children again, whether on this earth or in the next life."

"Did you find them?" Axel asked.

"No, I haven't," the man answered and Axel felt his heart sink knowing all too well the sad fate of a Kitsune's life—a fate he swore his children would never have and something he would always be aware of so to protect them to his dying breath.

"I'm sorry," Axel said. "Are you going to keep searching?"

"I'm afraid not," the man said, tugging at the loose ends of the wrap on his head again. "I know of a place with certainty were most of my children are and so I think I'll go there instead."

"Well . . . best of luck to ya, man," Axel said as he turned not being able to speak to the depressing old Kitsune any longer. But just as he turned he had glanced the man in red pull the fabric off his head and face and the sight of it struck a familiarity in Axel that he stopped, his eyes widened and his mouth dropped.

"I have worn this disguise since my letting go," the man said as he held the red fabric in his hands gently. "After having mutilated myself I was of no use to my owner and so he let me wander this world hoping I would die where no one would see me fall. It was to hide my face from the world because of my shame."

The blond hair, the pale skin now littered with wrinkles, and those now weary citrine eyes . . .

"If I ever found my children still on this earth it was to hide from them, but I'm afraid it's of no use. I haven't found them and so I suppose this disguise must go too," he said with a light sad chuckle after shaking his head and tossing the wrap to the ground before looking out at the lake.

When the man took a step forward, closer to the waters, Axel jumped forward, his hands out and his eyes bristling with moisture.

"Wait!" Axel begged, feeling his own throat constrict on him and about choke him. "It's me . . . Lea."

The man stopped and looked upon him. For a moment Axel swore he saw those dull eyes glow a bit before the light faded and he shook his head. "No, I'm afraid you aren't," the man said sadly. "It seems I have lost him to this world long ago."

Axel sucked in a shaking breath and quieted quickly while he watched the man once again step forward, trudging into the waters of the lake. There he was, Axel's Sire he had long since forgotten the face of, standing before him, walking into the cold waters below.

When the waters reached the golden Kitsune's shoulders he stopped and turned toward Axel who looked near to tears as his body shook before him.

"If I cannot find my son where I am going and if you by chance happen to see him could you tell him that I loved him?" The Kitsune had asked.

Axel shook more but he nodded his head saying, "I'll tell him."

Then he smiled. Axel hadn't remembered him ever smiling like that but now he was watching his sire smile in relief and happiness.

"Thank-you," he said and then he was gone.

The waters of the lake took him and the light of the full moon watched it all. Axel stood there for a moment before falling to his knees and leaning himself against the trunk of a tree nearby and crying. He had not cried like this in years, ever since his sister had died but now his tears hurt him, they burned him and Axel could barely stand it.

When morning broke, Axel had not returned to the cottage and so his mates sought him out. They had found him by the lakeshore holding a red cloth with tears burned into his face.

"Axel, w-what did you do?" Roxas asked as his fingers lightly danced over the markings underneath his Alpha's eyes.

Axel hadn't said anything but that wasn't anything new to Xion and Roxas and so they let it go as long as Axel still continued to love and show affection to them and the children. They both knew that when Axel felt it was time then he would tell them.

They all knew it had to do with his past, both Omegas knew it was dangerous to be what he was or to even find yourself mated to a Kitsune but they put their trust in their Alpha and protector even when the situation has turned to the worst.

"Neku, where's your sister Naminé?" Axel asked the young Neko who only shrugged his shoulders.

"She couldn't have wandered too far," Roxas assured. "I'll go look for her."

"No, the little ones are getting fussy, I will," Axel said as he let out a sigh and stood up from his lounging chair before heading off into the tree line where he had last seen Naminé

When Axel made it to the small waterfall his daughter had dubbed as her "secret place" he had noticed her lone sketchbook. The closer he got now he could even see the drawings on the small cave walls sitting next to the waterfall. It was definitely his daughter's artwork and he smiled in remembering his little sister doing something similar—so many years ago.

With a sigh, Axel picked the book up and looked through it, chuckling at a few pictures and then the marked dates on them to observe her abilities which happened to be foresight and most of these silly occurrences, like Zackary tripping over his mama's basket that she was weaving, or Tifa's beating of Reno who had eaten her entire lunch without that Alpha's say-so, did in fact come to pass. But after a while Axel looked around for the little girl. He knew she was pretty good in staying in this area so her not being around was odd enough to say.

So, placing the book down, he hopped across a few rocks, calling out her name.

"Naminé?" Axel called out and the moment he had he heard the faint sound of her voice. It had sounded like a muffled scream and so immediately Axel darted in that direction. Upon making it to where he heard her voice he broke through some foliage to find his daughter falling from the grasp of a man who looked simply dumbfounded.

"Papa!" Naminé cried as she ran to her sire and was immediately scooped up into his embrace and held close.

"What happened, Nami?" Axel asked noticing the man who had assaulted his daughter; he looked completely fazed and unaware of his surroundings. He quickly understood that his daughter must have done something to him, no doubt another ability just surfacing on the strongly in tuned Kitsune.

"He saw me at my secret place," the little golden Kitsune explained through shaking tears. "I tried to run but he caught me and then-then you found me."

This was not good. He needed to get back to his mates and other children as quickly as possible. He didn't know if there were others but cursed himself for letting another being find their way into his illusionist barriers.

So Axel held his little kit close and made his way back to the others only to watch in horror as he realized others had found their way into his territory and they were attacking his children and mates.

"No!" Axel gasped and in an instant placed Naminé on her feet and looked her hard in the eyes. "Listen, Naminé, if this turns for the worst I need you to run as fast as you can in that direction." There he was, pointing to the direction he wanted his daughter to run if need be and there he was, remembering that grim day in his life so very similar to this situation he's faced with now.

"B-But how will you find me if I do?" Naminé asked through teary blue eyes.

"I'll find you," Axel swore and then turned and ran out to defend the rest of his family.

As he ran out into the opening in the forest where his small cottage laid and where his two mates remained watching over the children while they played, he could see just how many there were. He caught three to his right who were currently chasing his elder kits, Genesis and Lea, who were trying to use their fox-fires to get rid of the men. So, Axel darted their way and slammed all three of them down, holding them in his grasp.

"Go! Genesis, Lea, go into the woods and find your sister and then run!" Axel commanded.

"But we can't just leave you, papa!" Genesis said, his wide blue eyes full of fear and his ears full of his Omega's screams as well as his siblings' cries.

"Do it!" Axel growled at the two and just as they lowered their ears they turned and ran into the tree line to find their awaiting sister. When Axel let out a relieved sigh that they made it and vanished from his sight as well as the attacker's sight he watched as the men underneath him got their bearings once more and pushed him off of them.

"The hell? !" One said. "We had two fucking Kitsunes!" When the men turned to Axel their eyes widened. Axel didn't give them a chance to shake off their shock in seeing an adult Kitsune before he set them aflame.

The fires caught the others' attention and that is exactly what he wanted. Summoning his fox-fires he growled and dared them attack an Alpha as he so demanded.

"Axel!" Roxas and Xion cried out while they shielded as many of their little ones as they could from the attackers around them.

Axel looked at the two and noticed a few cuts and bruises on them. He knew each of them were tough in their own manner, but Xion, she was expecting as sign from her rounded belly and he would not let them hurt the unborn litter.

But what was worse was the damage his children sustained. He could see one of the attackers holding his little girl, Vanille, as she struggled in his grasp while the foul creature held her by her hair. Just a little ways he could see his little Kit, Prompto, protecting his Neko sister, Stella, from the man looming over them with fang and claw and then just next to them he was watching as they picked up his son, Reno who looked like he had been beaten before the man found it safe to touch him.

"Alpha, look, it's their mate. He's the Kitsune," Axel watched as a blue Ookami motioned to his Alpha who turned and immediately Axel recognized such familiarity.

Those golden eyes, that dark skin, and those silver locks—it reminded Axel of . . .

"Hm, he looks quite feisty," the Alpha mentioned.

"Yeah, a lot like his little bastards. Sir, I found Demyx, looks like that little brat did a number on him, kid doesn't even know who he is anymore," a familiar face said as he came, dragging that one attacker who had grabbed Naminé earlier. The one pulling him was the same Beta Axel had seen when Zackary had ran off when he was little. Looks like Axel not killing the bastard has come back to bite him in the ass.

"Shame," the Alpha silver Ookami said as he took a sweeping glance over the younger member of his pack before turning his predatory gaze back on Axel. "But he's just a small casualty for what really lies at stake here. This nest is littered with Kitsunes, the highest number anyone's found in years. After such a long time of exclusion, the people will pay quite handsomely to have one of these rare creatures."

"Oh, yeah, loads," the one with the missing eye that Axel remembered said as he rubbed his hands together and stuck his tongue out. "We'll have heavy pockets after this."

"You're not going to sell anyone!" Axel shouted before charging and dodging the attackers to his right and left so that he could make a way for his fox-fires to ram at their Alpha, but the Ookami was quick and dodged the fires, letting the flames strike the cottage behind him and set it ablaze.

Axel's eyes widened at the sight and couldn't believe he hadn't foreseen the Alpha dodging his flames and not directing them to follow his form. In that momentary shock two men had grabbed Axel's right arm and then two grabbed his left while another man, a larger one, possibly a Kuma, grabbed a hold of his torso and pressed his weight upon him, making sure he didn't move.

Axel gasped and cursed at himself for not seeing the others closing in on him. Now he couldn't move and he was once again useless. This scene reminded him so much of a past he was trying to forget and of a future he tried to prevent for his mates and children.

"I don't know if this one'll sell for much. His attitude bites," the one-eyed Jackal Beta said to his Alpha who still held that predatory grin on his face.

"No, we won't be selling this one," he said as he turned to his pack members.

"Why not?" one asked. "I thought we were going to sell all the Kitsunes."

"The children, yes, but not the parent," The silver Ookami said as he turned around again and touched Axel's jaw, purposely letting a few scratches linger as he pulled away. "What no other trapper has done before was to catch a live adult Kitsune with his mate. Just think of the possibility of having him continually breed with his mates to produce more Kits."

"Oh, I see now!" The Jackal Beta said with a toothy grin. "That's why you're the big man, Xemnas. You've always got the smartest ideas."

_No, no, no, NO! I promised this would not happen to my family! Damn it, I swore on my life that if I ever sired kits they would not leave me through slave-traders. No, I can't let this happen!_ Axel was frozen, watching as his mates, Roxas and Xion clung to the little ones they could, most happened to be either Inu or Neko, the children the slave-traders paid least attention to, well, until someone mentioned their existence.

"Hey, what about the other children, the ones that aren't kits?"

_No!_ Axel inwardly gasped as he watched the Alpha of the pack turn and examine the children before waving his hand and saying, "They're of no value. Might as well kill them."

"NO!" Xion cried out as the man near her leant down and pulled a pup out from under her, her little Beta, Noctis, and shook him.

"Noctis!" Axel cried out as he watched those animals touch his son so harmfully. "Put him down, now!"

"You're in no position to give orders, Kitsune," Xemnas said as he looked at the child crying to be let go uncaringly. "Besides, this wouldn't be happening if he had been born a kit instead of a pup."

Just like Axel's sisters and brother that had been born Ferret instead of Kitsune, his children born with genes mostly akin to his mates were going to be slaughtered and he was going to watch it. He didn't want his Kitsune children to forget the faces and names of their Neko and Inu siblings. He didn't want their lives to become like this. Never. Never!

"NO! ! ! !" Axel cried out.

Suddenly the weight upon him fell greater and he was engulfed in darkness and his breath lost from him. He could hear something, but he wasn't quite sure what it was and so he pressed upward with all his might and pushed the Kuma off of him. Blinking from the brightness of day, Axel's eyes settled to the men around him, most bore scorch marks on them and then, turning, he watched as his eldest, Genesis, had jumped upon the man holding Noctis and set his hand upon his face, heating it to where it burst into flame and the man was blown away.

"Genesis!" Axel gasped, watching as the boy took hold of his little brother and helped him back on the ground. Axel wanted to scold the boy for not staying put when he ordered him to but all Axel could manage was to run and hug the two boys who had put themselves in so much danger.

Turning around he watched as a fox-fire swarmed past him and hit a few other attackers who were running with their clothing on fire. It was Lea, that little fire-head was chasing the men, a rage in his green eyes at what they had tried to do to his siblings.

Axel was thoroughly impressed. Their fires weren't as strong as his, but this was why he had begun training them so early on, so that they could defend themselves when he couldn't at their age.

Just as long as the boys weren't in any danger and stayed their distance while guiding their fox-fires, Axel knew they could handle themselves. And it wasn't just his two eldest, their litter-brother, Zack, had begun attacking as well, freeing some of his captured siblings, one such was Prompto who, once free, summoned his own fox-fire and followed his older brothers' plan of attack.

With pride running through Axel's veins he turned but stopped dead cold in his tracks. There before him was a pissed looking Ookami Alpha and in his grasp was Xion, held up by her hair and dangerous claws placed near his rounded belly.

Axel had never wanted to see this scene unfold before him again.

"You damn Kitsune!" the Alpha barked while shaking the expecting Omega who whimpered and pleaded with tearful eyes to her mate to save her. "You don't think I remember you? You fire Demon! I was there when you burned down my family's home. Every one of my family turned to ash in a second because of you cursed creatures, now you plan to make your own children follow in your heinous crimes? That is NOT allowed!"

Axel blinked in confusion before he realized his assumption was right.

"He was your Sire!" Axel gasped, realizing the resemblance to the Ookami Alpha and his old owner was uncanny. In fact, that old man had countless friends and many family members who would stay with him for a time out of every year. The day he had burned everything was in such a time and Axel did not doubt he was one of those countless members of that wretched old man's bloodline.

"He may have made the mistake in not knowing how to control your kind, but I do!" Xemnas growled, shaking the fragile Omega in his grasp who cried out.

"Don't hurt her, please!" Axel begged, raising his hands in show he had no fox-fires summoned.

"Then listen to your master!" the Alpha growled, the growl had enacted a growl from Axel seeing how Alphas rarely took orders from another Alpha unless they forced themselves and Axel was having such a hard time forcing himself into submission.

Just as Axel reluctantly bowed his head and pinned his ears back he heard someone run toward them and when he looked up he watched his first mate, Roxas, ram into the Alpha and the two took a tumble down the hill near the back of the cottage. The impact had been so hard that their descent was even faster.

"Roxas!" Axel gasped as he ran toward the hill and only watched in horror as his Omega fell into the forest with the Alpha.

Just as he ran after them, Axel reluctantly stopped himself and ran back to his second mate. "Xion, are you alright? Xion?"

The girl simply smiled at him and nodded while she scooped up most of her crying pups. "I'm fine. Please, go save Roxas."

Axel didn't want to leave her alone but he watched as his elder children came running toward them, successfully having fended off their attackers with their trained fox-fires.

"Boys!" He said. "Stay with your mother. I have to go find Roxas."

"But papa!" they cried out as he turned and listened to them no more. Axel ran as quickly as he could down the hill and into the forest and prayed Roxas hadn't killed himself. The boy had always been so reckless and aggressive that he was surprised he hadn't met his end yet. Axel didn't care when the Neko did, he just didn't want it to be now, not by this Ookami.

"Roxas!" Axel gasped as he watched the Alpha Ookami overpower the boy, hitting him right in the nose and tossing him backwards. Roxas had fallen into the vegetation and was near hidden. So Axel ran at the Ookami and set his fox-fires upon him.

If there was anything Axel regretted—above all it was not burning this piece of shit along with the rest of his family that day.

So Axel set to work to burning this damn Alpha but no matter how many fox-fires he summoned and sent his way he seemed impenetrable and it shocked Axel, especially when he ran through the fires and attacked him with fang and claw. Axel hadn't had time to think of dodging him and so the claws dug into his shoulders and the weight of the older and larger Alpha sent him to the ground with the wind knocked out of him.

"ACK!" Axel gasped feeling those claws had gone right through his shoulders and weren't letting go. So, Axel began to heat himself. If the Ookami wouldn't let go for fear of blood getting on that shiny cloak of his then he'd let go from fear of his hands burning off.

"Ah!" Xemnas cried out as he pulled his hands away as he watched the skin on his hands burn and melt away.

Axel twisted and gave the Alpha a good kick to the side and quickly pulled himself to his feet despite the pain from his ripped open shoulders. Scurrying around he reached his hands out into the greenery underneath until he felt what he was searching for. Taking up the Omega in his arms, Axel hugged Roxas close.

"Roxas," he whispered so wearily that the boy barely heard him.

Roxas opened his dazed eyes looking up at his mate and clung tightly to the Alpha from lack of better standing. Axel heaved then turned to see the Alpha getting up, ignoring the pain in his hands.

"Roxas . . . my fox-fires won't work on him," Axel wheezed out.

"Then do it."

Axel was surprised by what the Neko said but now he was reluctant.

"Can you run, Roxas?" Axel asked as he tightened his hold around the wounded Neko. He already knew the answer but he just wanted to make sure.

"Sorry," was Roxas' common reply. Both turned to see Xemnas finally shaking off the remainder of his daze and now he was looking at them. Roxas clung tighter to his mate and bit his bottom lip. "I know I'll be okay, but . . . if not . . . Xion's a good mother. I know she won't mind raising my litters."

"Yeah . . . she is," Axel said as he leaned down and nuzzled his first mate close. "I could never get you to run away from me, huh?"

Roxas took his eyes away from the rampart Ookami Alpha and turned his gaze up toward his mate. If this was going to be his last minute then he wanted to spend it staring into those beautiful emerald eyes he's come to love and call his own. "Your flames never burned me," the Neko purred and leaned up to kiss his mate before Axel engulfed himself and everything around him in flame.

Nothing would be able to survive this inferno save a Kitsune but still Axel clung tightly to his mate. He could feel him next to him; he could feel him clinging to him. Roxas had known he might perish if he chose to mate himself to a cursed Kitsune. Axel hadn't wanted to mate to him because he loved him too much and wouldn't wish a short life on him or any who found themselves attracted to a Kitsune.

But now Axel couldn't feel Roxas in his arms any longer and he couldn't help but cry despite the flames burning everything up. He knew Roxas wouldn't change any of his decisions for the world and the children he had given Axel would never be regretted. Roxas was just that kind of a Neko, which is why Axel chose him to be his mate.

Kitsunes had always been quite picky in choosing a mate. That could explain why there were so few of them; refusing to mate because none met their criteria. Or, perhaps it was because Kitsune's infused so much connection in their chosen mate or mates that a piece of their heart, the main essence of their magic would fade if they ever lost them.

It wasn't picky—it was just cautious, and for good reasons. A reason most don't think about . . .

To protect the Heart; the vitality of their Magic.


End file.
